14 October 2022 College Park MD to Ashland VA

 It was a short drive around Washington DC and the traffic was not as bad as we feared, but still congested. We were very conscious of our missing copilot, Etta, as there was a very empty space in our travel routine.  We miss her a lot. We are staying at the Americamps RV Resort ($67 no discount) in Ashland VA, just north of Richmond.  Lots of tree in this RV park but we had no issues getting into out site. The water pressure is low (38lbs) and the internet connection speeds are slow, but otherwise seems to be ok. 

12 October 2022 Library of Congress

 One of David’s must see’s is the Library of Congress. After seeing the library in National Tressure, he wanted to see it in person. We arranged for an entry time a couple of days in advance. We took the Metro in to town and got out at the Capitol South station. We were a little early but they let us in anyway. The Library of Congress was authorized in 1800. It was housed in one of the wings of the Capitol Building. In 1814, the library was burned by the British when the Capitol was burned. Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his extensive (over 6487 books) library collection to congress to replace the library that had been burned. Congress bought Jeffersons library in 1818 for a bit over $23,950. The library suffered another fire in 1859 and portions of the original Jefferson collection was lost. The library has been attempting to replace the missing volumes ever since. They had the original Jefferson collection in a special exhibit. The library moved to its current location in the Jefferson Building in 1897. The library has over 174 million items in it collection today. We walked into the Great Hall of the library after going through security. The architecture is gorgeous! We explored the exhibits (including the Gutenberg Bible) in the public area, including Jeffersons collection. We worked our way up to the third floor where we could look down on the main reading room. Having seen it in the movies, it was disappointing to learn the general public was not allowed in to the actual library. But we found out that we could get library cards and then we could go into the reading room and the library collections. So some helpful folks showed us where to apply on line and we were approved in minutes. When we went to get our pictures taken, we were asked for ID. Unfortunately, Leslie had not brought her driver’s license so they would not let her get her library card. So David got his library card and went into the reading room, while Leslie headed for the Library of Congress Store. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed in the reading room or in the collections. So he wandered around the room, walked back into some of the collections, and climbed to the second floor. The higher floors are off limits to the public. Even though he was tempted to sneak up to look for the Presidents Book! After joining up with Leslie, we took the Metro down to Crystal City and had dinner before heading back to the Wanderer. 

Great Hall of the Library of Congress

Ceiling in the Great Hall

The Gutenberg Bible

View of the Great Hall from the second floor

Exhibit of the Jefferson Collection

Exhibit of the Jefferson Collection

Another view of the Great Hall

The Main Reading Room

Sundial in the floor of the Great Hall

View of the Capitol Building from the Library of Congress

10 October 2022 Fords Theater

 One of the top sites we wanted to visit is Ford Theater, site of the assassination of President Lincoln. We took the metro into town and arrived early for our entry time, so we went down the street to the Hard Rock Café for a refreshment. Our self guided tour started in the visitor center where we picked up our audio devices. We went down into the museum under Fords Theater where the exhibits led you through the build up to the assassination. In one exhibit, they had the blood soaked pillow that Lincoln rested his head on as he lay dying in the Peterson House. Another had the single shot Derringer pistol that was used to kill Lincoln. We then went up into the theater. We were disappointed to find out that it was a recreation of what the theater looked like in 1865. A year after the assassination, the Department of the Navy bought the theater that had remained closed. They demolished the interior and built three floors for clerks. In 1927, the floors collapsed killing 26 people. In 1968, the park service was given the building and it was renovated to look like the 1865 theater. None of the contents are original. So it was a bit disappointing to realize this was not the real theater where Lincoln visited. The theater is presenting shows since its renovation. Next we stepped across the street to the Peterson’s House where Lincoln was carried after he was shot and where he died the next morning. The bullet had entered just behind the left ear and lodged behind his right eye. He live for 12 hours after he was shot. None of the contents of the house are original either. The bed in the room where Lincoln died is a reproduction. The owners of the house had auctioned off the contents in the 1880s. The real bed is in a private collection in Chicago. It is a bit disappointing to realize the museum is mostly theater, but it was still interesting to imagine the times. 

Fords Theater

Peterson House

The Derringer that killed President Lincoln

The pillow that supported Lincolns head while he died

The recreated Box where President and Mrs. Lincoln sat when he was assassinated 

Th recreated interior of Fords Theater

The room where President Lincoln Died (recreated bed)

9 October 2022 Inns and Wine

 Another one of Leslie’s favorite places around Washington is the small town of Middleburg. The area around Middleburg became major Virginia Horse Country. The town has expanded considerably since Leslie last visited. The Red Fox Inn in town dates back to 1728. In 1748, George Washington stayed in the Tavern/Lodge when doing some surveying on the frontier. The building looks like it is in really good shape for being 300 years old. We ate a late lunch across the street from the Inn. After exploring the shops on main street we decided to visit one of the local vineyards. Over the past 15-20 years, some of the horse farms have been turned into very successful vineyards. We picked the Greenhill Vineyard and stopped in to do a wine tasting. The grounds were beautiful and they had beautiful views of the hills. We were not super impressed with the wines from the tasting. But we picked out a couple and sat out on the porch to enjoy the views while letting the notorious DC rush hour traffic die down. 

Red Fox Inn

Greenhill Vineyard

Views from the back deck. 

8 October 2022 Harpers Ferry

 Harpers Ferry is one of Leslie’s favorite places. Its where the Shenandoah River and Potomac join. The lower town is a National Historic Park. The area has a lot of history. In 1859, John Brown and 18 men attacked the US Armory in an attempt to start an invasion of the south to end slavery. Most of the men were killed by the army, the ones that survived were hung for insurrection. Some say this action was the real start of the civil war. Interestingly, it was General Robert E Lee who led the army units to put down the insurrection. During the civil war, there was a major battle here when Robert E Lee led the Army of Virginia north into Pennsylvania in 1862. The hills around the area are beautiful. The leaves are just starting to change so there were small splashes of color against the flowing water of the river. The area apparently floods frequently and on occasion gets up to 18 feet deep. We explored the old town and crossed over the Potomac to get some pictures where the two rivers merge. On the far side of the river, we crossed more ruminants of the C&O Canal.  

Entrance Sign

Main street of Old Town Harpers Ferry

Confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers

Confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers

Old Town

View from Jefferson Rock

5 October 2022 Falls and the Mall

 The ruminants of hurricane IAN are slowly moving east. We took the opportunity to go to the east and west sides of the Great Falls of the Potomac. On the east side we saw a fox in the parking lot before crossing over the C&O Canal and the locks. The C&O was built in the 1840s in competition with the railroads to open trade between the Ohio River and the Chesapeake Bay. The railroad eventually one due to speed and cost, but the C&O provided some good competition for a while. We have been seeing bits and pieces of the canal during our travels. A spur of the canal went all the way to the Capitol build and was used to move building materials to the site but eventually was filled in to form the Mall. The river was running pretty good with all the recent rain from Ian. Leslie used to come here with her dog Abby to watch the kayakers shoot the falls. As we stood there, a military helicopter came thundering by us at low level and disappearing around the bend. It came thundering back a few minutes later heading towards DC. We headed back to the Wanderer to have an early dinner. We then walked up to the bus station to meet up with our tour bus. The tour took us into DC just as the sun was setting. Our guide was a local historian and filled us in with a lot of history trivia. The clouds from Ian cleared off and we had a beautiful sunset that provided perfect lighting of the Capitol Building and back lit the Washington Monument. We then were taken to the White House, Jefferson Memorial, Roosevelt Memorial, the tidal pool, MLK Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, and World War 2 Memorial. They look beautiful in the lighting and made for some dramatic photos.

Red Fox in the parking lot

C&O Canal

Great Falls of the Potomac

Great Falls of the Potomac

Capitol Building lit by the setting sun

White House

Washington Monument from across the Tidal Basin

Jefferson Memorial

Roosevelt Monument

DC from the tidal basin

Martin Luther King Memorial

Korean War memorial

Washington Monument across the reflecting pool

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

WW 2 Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

3 October 2022 Capitol Tour

Before we arrived in DC, we arranged for a tour of the Capitol building. We took the Metro down to the Capital station. Walking toward the Capitol Build brought back lots of memories for Leslie of her years of working on Capitol Hill in the 1980s. We walked into the new and spacious visitor center and collected our tickets. We wandered around looking at the statues in the visitors hall that are provided by the states for display. We then saw a movie on the capitol building before stepping out to meet our tour guide. None of this was available when Leslie was leading tours of the Capitol building. The two wings of the Capitol were built between 1807 and 1812. The wings were rebuilt after the British burned the original capitol build in 1814 and reopened in 1819. The oldest parts of the building are from that time period. The center of the capitol building was built between 1819 and 1826 when the center building was opened with a low wooden and cooper dome. The senate meet in the old senate chamber and the house in the old house chamber until 1857. By 1850, more states had joined the Union and it was decided to expand the Capitol to accommodate the additional representatives. The current House and Senate chambers were occupied in 1857 and 1859 respectively. The current iron and marble dome of the Capitol build was completed in 1864. The external house and senate office buildings (3 each) were built to accommodate the expanding offices. The Old House Chamber was turned into the National Statuary Hall with two statues that are donated by each state. The statues are changed out by the states on a regular basis (there were two new statues from just the previous week). The old senate chamber is left as a museum piece. We toured the Old House and Senate Chambers and the rotunda. Leslie said that she used to show a lot more of the Capitol. The Architecture is gorgeous. We were not allowed to see the current House or Senate chambers due to security. It was interesting to see the halls of DC Power. Following the tour, we went to one of Leslie’s old hangouts to have an early dinner before taking the metro back to College Park.

Library of Congress

Statue that was used to make the casting of the Statue of Freedom which is at the top of the Capitol Dome

Visitor Center

Looking up at the Capitol Dome

Old Senate Chamber

Old House Chamber